Quality, Risk Management and Governance in International Enterprises

Abstract

Nowadays, international enterprises provide a number of distinctive features which make an interesting case for an in-depth review of risk management policies and practices in line with quality assurance standards. This paper considered corporate governance framework and practices relating to corporate risk management in international enterprises. Against the background of the risk and quality principles of corporate governance describes how various enterprises have chosen to implement the principles relating to quality risk management. The paper analyses the corporate governance framework and practices relating to corporate risk and quality management, in the private sector and in state-owned enterprises. It is based upon a general study of international enterprises. The paper finds that, while risk-taking is a fundamental driving force in business and entrepreneurship, the cost of risk management failures is still often underestimated, both externally and internally, including the cost in terms of management time needed to rectify the situation. Corporate governance should therefore ensure that risks are understood, managed, and, when appropriate, communicated. Currently, quality and risk governance standards tend to be very high-level, limiting their practical usefulness, and/or focus largely on international enterprises. There is scope to make risk governance standards more operational, without narrowing their flexibility to apply them to different companies and situations.